ONSA arms deal trial: N4.6bn traced to Bafarawa’s son account

In the trial-within-trial of former Sokoto State governor Attahiru Bafarawa and four others, on Wednesday, Hamza Abdullahi, the Second Prosecution Witness (PW2), informed Justice Y. Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court that N4.633 billion could be linked to the account of Dalhatu Investment Limited, where Bafarawa’s son Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa and another man called Nasir were directors.

The former was the only signatory to the company’s bank account.

According to Abdullahi, he oversaw the operations of 78 companies that received funding from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) without cause in 2015 while serving as the second-in-command of the Special Task Force, Fraud Investigation on Arms, Defence Equipment Procurement. Dalhatu Investment Limited was one of those companies.

“From the report we received from ONSA, when we scrutinized the report, we traced the sum of N 4.633 billion paid to Dalhatu Investment Limited Account, domiciled in United Bank of Africa, (UBA), with Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa as the sole signatory of the account,” the witness said.

Abdullahi further informed the court that Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa, who is the fourth defendant was interviewed on November 25, 2015 by the investigation team and that he made his statement voluntarily.

“My Lord, I witnessed the statement dated 25/11/2015 of Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa. He was interviewed in my presence, the statement was also recorded in my presence. At the conclusion of the written statement, I read it to him. Thereafter, I endorsed the written statement. I equally endorsed the second statement at 4pm and it was concluded by 4:25pm, the same day. I witnessed it, my name and signature were there,” he said.

The PW2 further informed the court that no kind of promise was made to the defendant and that he was neither threatened nor induced into writing any of the statements.

“My Lord, there was nothing like promises made to the accused, threat or inducement. To the best of my knowledge, there was nothing like that. It was a very conducive environment and that was the Secretariat of the Special Task Force at the Head Office then. The secretariat is the conference room of the Chairman, and no member of the Special Task Force is authorized to make any promise in the course of investigation.

“When Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa honored our invitation, he came with his lawyer and he was confronted with the evidence that we have. Afterwards, he said he needed to consult his lawyer and later volunteered his written statement. These statements were based on the fact of the evidence we have on the company,” he said.

He also stated that the defendant promised to avail the investigation team with detailed analysis of the beneficiaries of the said fund traced to his account, adding that he voluntarily came forward with the details.

“I have decided to make this statement without my lawyer. Attached here are the details signed by me,” PW2 quoted from the statement of the defendant.

Justice Halilu thereafter adjourned the matter till May 22, 2024 for the defence to open their case in the trial-within-trial.